Wonderlust
by CynicalImortality
Summary: Species Swap AU! Zim hates the fall and is sick of his brothers, but he has little attention for them as this new kids steps into the picture. Din just wants to prove that he can do more than his "father," that being micromanaging the empire, but how can he with this human poking at his disguise?
1. Chapter 1: The Dib-thing

Zim woke on one dreary morning, the sun being hidden by the fog of a muggy looking morning. Zim despised the Fall, he preferred the winter and its purity. Fall to him was the falling and messiness of leaves, disgusting. But sadly, he had to head out into this weather, it was a skool day. Ms. Bitters was bound to talk about the impending doom of the world yet again, she tended to do that on Wednesdays. At least it made it easier to remember he was halfway through the week.

"G.I.R!" Zim called as he rose from bed, hoping his robot hadn't made a mess of things.

"Masta!" said robot crashed through the room, skidding to a stop at Zim's feet. The fake green fur still amused him but Zim wished he hadn't decided on the iris-less eyes.

"G.I.R. has anyone else woken up yet?" He asked but realizing by calling G.I.R. he probably did wake the others.

"Yes, the older Irken brothers are awake and are located in Section 2 of the house!" The blue glow coming from parts of the creation flared red as he gave the report. Zim sighed grumpily that he would have to deal with them so early. With that information retrieved, Zim began to prepare for yet another day.

"Morning Zim," both brothers said in sync, creeping Zim out as he grabbed his thermos of coffee. They were wearing their uniforms, they must be doing more rebellion work. The older Irken brothers, Raffiel and Parker Irken, were leaders of a rebellion against President Man. Zim thought it was ridiculous but kept his mouth shut as he saw the rebellion, officially named Operation Impending Doom 1, gain underground numbers and almost an instant following.

"Morning brothers," with a turn of his heel, Zim left the kitchen and grabbed his little grey backpack before walking out into the world. G.I.R followed at his side, name tag jingling as he walked beside the youngest Irken brother.

Skool looked just as foreboding as it could to an 11 year old, dark and looming higher than the fog would allow sight. But Zim was not the average 11 year old, far from it. He strode up the cracked concrete steps, ducked past Keef who was busy chatting up some poor kid's ear, and confidently sat next to the window. His unproclaim seat, since they didn't really have assigned seats because Ms. Bitters had declared that "no matter where you are the inevitable doom will find you."

"I'd say good morning class but I'm here," Ms. Bitters addressed the class, her posture that of a rattlesnake shaking its tail. "But, today we have a new student. Dib, get over here."

"Hello fellow students! I am Dib M-"

"Go to your seat, I didn't ask for an introduction."

Zim's eyes left the window and its foggy display to look at the new boy, also in the front row but on the other side. His scythe-esque cowlick was amusing but something was off about the boy. The way his nose sat without bridge or just how his ears didn't look quite… there. Zim shook it off as nothing more until he saw the three pointy fingered gloves; Zim then proceeded to choke on his own spit.

"Zim if you're going to die could you please do it more quietly?" Ms. Bitters glared at the child, his display unsurprising to her.

"The new kid," Zim gagged on the saliva left in his throat, "has only three fingers and they look like claws!" The boy tried to defend himself, he was usually dramatic, but he had a reason this time! Said new kid, Dib, started looking in his coat, panicked and a look equaling a readiness to obliterate himself.

"Why do you have to discriminate him like that Zim? Just because he's got clawed hands doesn't mean anything." A girl to Zim's right groaned.

"Yeah, what about old kid huh?" Another student called out, starting a chain of grumbling grievances against Zim. Dib stopped searching, panic replaced by a look of relief and slight confusion.

"Silence! If I wanted to hear this much complaining I would have joined the Operation Impending Doom 1 chatroom." Ms. Bitters hissed over the crowd, a silence immediately followed except for a face palm by Zim as he remembered his brothers trying to recruit his teacher at Parent-Teacher night.

They day dragged on, as their lesson of impending doom from the universe took the whole class. The day only got foggier but Zim couldn't care less, this Dib-thing was watching him, he could tell from the corer of his eye. Once the final bell rang, Zim waited until it was just him and Dib at the top of the outer staircase.

"You, what are you?" Zim demanded of the short boy, who's pale skin contrasted the trench coat he was wearing.

"What do you mean? I'm a human, just like you." Dib spat with confidence, but he tucked his gloved hands into his pockets anyway. He didn't like this Zim creature, he was slightly taller than him, he wore brash colors and he had seen him walk to skool from his house with that weird pet thing. This boy wasn't like the other humans.

"Dib, I wanna go home," Gaz butted between them, grabbing Dib's arm and pulling him away.

"What the?" Zim watched this little girl, maybe a grade younger, butt in and grab his interrogatee. "Hey come back here!" He turned follow but the girl looked at him with such venom, her eyes still closed or squinting, but her teeth bared. He let it go quickly as he picked it up.

Zim wasn't scared of the little girl that grabbed the Dib-thing, nope, he wanted to wait at skool for another five minutes so G.I.R. could walk him home- but not for protection, because he wanted to be a normal kid and walk his dog. Not scared of the girl at all.

The purple door slammed open to an empty house, Zim felt relief in the safety of his solitude. He threw his bag into his room, grabbed a snack from the fridge that didn't have a big 'R' or 'P' on it, and headed down to Section 11 of the house.

"G.I.R. set a reminder to get access to the house's security cameras," Zim called over his shoulder, the robot barking happily as it played with a wrench. "Computer!"

"Yes Zim?" the sarcastic tone led Zim to believe his brothers messed with his equipment again. He sighed and ignored it for now, he had other plans.


	2. Chapter 2: Field Scientist Dib

"Why do you want to go to Earth?" the Tallest Professor Membrane looked at his clone with confusion. He knew it wouldn't turn out exactly like him, but this unyielding sense of wonder is something he never expected. His experiment, or younger "offspring" as he'll call them, turned out much more militaristic.

"Because there's always something useful somewhere, look at the Empire, you keep building and building in on itself and soon enough you'll have nothing else to improve!" Dib argued back at his tallest, or "Father" as he's told to say. He wasn't interested in the Empire's self-advancement and micromanagement of efficiency. If something as just a .001% off from what his father wanted, then he'd go into mania just to fix it.

"I want to expand the Empire! Or if not then to discover and record as much as I can for the database! I want to be useful!"

"You are! You are the heir! The predestined next Tallest, that is your programed purpose!" Tallest Professor Membrane pointed angrily at his clone's PAK, exactly like the one on his back. The blue poke-a-dots matching their eyes and uniform colors.

"Then maybe I should go make my mark o this Empire to show them what I can be, not just another you!" Dib's breathing felt heavy as he grew frustrated, Gaz was of no help as she played her Invaderz Slave system. Then a key point hit him, something that might convince his father to let him go.

"If you're so bent on improving everything before expanding anymore, let me go improve my field skills so that when the time comes for me to lead, I can expand on your perfection with perfection!" If Dib could "focus" on "improving himself" with on hand experience then his father may let him do this, he prayed for it to work. The gears turning in Tallest Professor Membrane's head were evident.

"Fine. Only if you take Gaz with you. I can't risk losing you and I know that Gaz can handle herself." Dib could hardly process the insult to his self-defense, he was free, he could go. Gaz groaned but got up, knowing full well Dib would make them leave as soon as Membranely possibly. Dib too ran for his bags, half of them already packed.

The trip down to Earth was long, but Gaz and Dib found a way to keep themselves amused. Dib by theorizing their reactions to Earth elements and Gaz by playing her Invaderz Slave. When the time finally came fore them to land, Dib found an empty home with a "for sale" sign, he picked up the stake and threw it in their new garage where he parked the Voot cruiser.

"Really a city?" Gaz groaned, making a home of the couch. "That'll make it harder to avoid people when out of disguise."

"Exactly Gaz! If we crank this up to the hardest setting, then Tallest Professor will see our true skills!" Dib excitedly called back as he ran up the stairs to claim his room. Whirring echoed up from the basement as the lab set itself up.

As the sun sets, Dib watching in wonder from his window, the already above average height Membrane thinks of his first day at hooman skool. His books lay on his desk to be double checked but Dib walks past them to his closet where he tests the hologram of his disguise. Pleased with his actual trench coat fitting in, the Membrane played with his hairstyle, settling on a scythe that mimics half of his antenna.

The morning comes around slower than Dib could handle, the ball of energy rushing to double check his notes on humans, fiddling with his translator, doing all sorts on unnecessary things until an alert from his PAK said that it was time to go.

Dib slammed the door back to the house as Gaz returned to what's slowly becoming _her_ couch. His squeedlyspooch hammering at the raw memory of Zim grilling him on the skool steps. What was wrong with his disguise? Dib ran to his room, throwing his bag on his chair and running into his closet.

"What is wrong?" Dib practically chanted as he investigated his hologram. The only thing he could see at first was that his nose and ears looked a little too perfect compared to the other skool children. Then he saw his hands, his three claws sticking out like a sore thumb, well… more like a lack of one.

Dib spent the rest of the evening coming up with a glove with a fake finger and adjusting the hologram to make it looks more natural. After perfecting such a small detail, Dib took a moment to convince Gaz to take the same advancement for her own disguise. The sun sets again, Dib yet again watching in wonder.

"What the-" A squeak came from the Membrane as the young Irken boy walked down the street with a green-furred robot dog. Out of fearful curiosity, Dib watches as Zim walked this mechanical creature down his street; something dreadful happened in this moment, Zim outside the fenced front lawn of the Membrane base, Dib's window open with dim light illuminating his undisguised form.

Zim's head whipped around to make eye-contact, Dib's antenna perked up in surprise. They stare, but Zim took in Dib's real face like one watches a car crash: in horror and unable to look away.


End file.
